(Sep 12, 2014) "Even with all our technology and the inventions that make modern life so much easier than it once was, it takes just one big natural disaster to wipe all that away and remind us that, here on Earth, we're still at the mercy of nature." Famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson couldn't have been more right. In this age, we can't survive without technology. Little did I know, Mr. Matthews had a plan to get us away from that, and realize what matters more.

(Song ~ So Much More Than This - Grace Vanderwaal)

~~~~~

We were standing by our lockers, Maya and I watching as Riley texted Lucas. "Talk to him," Maya exclaimed.

"Why? We have a great text relationship."

"You know what's a better text relationship?" I asked, sighing.

"What?"

Maya and I sighed in unison. "Talk to him." Riley just kept texting him.

"He's right over there."

"It's like four steps." I groaned.

"Noooo! Too complicated over there. Lots can go wrong over there. The only thing that can go wrong over here is if I go over there."

We both turned Riley towards Lucas, and she walked behind them. She opened her mouth to say "hi".

I really thought she was gonna say hi.

We were waiting for her to say hi.

She mouthed it.

I fought back giggles, as she tried again, doing the exact same thing. She tried saying hello, again failing. She looked towards us in distress. Maya elbowed me, and I stopped giggling.

"Talk to him." Maya mouthed. I just stared.

"Here comes funny," I whispered in Maya's ear.

Riley smelled him. Yes. I did say that right. She smelled him. She walked back to us happily. "How'd I do?"

"You smelled him," Maya stated.

"Yup."

"You smelled him is what you did," I stated blankly.

"I walk through life, the way I walk through life."

Maya sighed as we walked into the classroom. "Can we please talk about this?"

Riley typed something into her phone, and Maya received a text. We both looked at it. 'Nope.'

We sat in our desks, waiting for Matthews to start. "You guys don't connect with each other." What do ya call the bay window? "It's like you can't exist without these." He held up his phone. That's not fair... I mean I don't have a phone.

"You use emoticons rather than emotions. You're an unfeeling generation of zombies." Riley Maya and I pretended to be zombies, as Alison Myzell walked into the room. "Stop eating her." He turned to her. "You're late, Miss Myzell."

"My goldfish died." She said emotionlessly.

"You see? This is what I'm talking about. Miss Myzell has clearly suffered a tragic loss. Yet, she does not seem in touch with her actual emotions!"

"Excuse me? I am crying my eyes out. I'm gonna have to leave class early."

She actually left the classroom this time! "Oh, she actually made it out the door this time." Mr. Matthews said, voicing my thoughts.

He opened the door, and she walked back in excitedly. "I actually made it out the door this time!" I started clapping until Matthews glared at me.

Riley just sighed. "Dad, adjust and deal. Cell phones have been around for, like, ever."

"It'll amaze you to know that there was a whole world before you and cell phones."

"And it'll amaze you to know that I have 394 friends in here." She tapped her phone screen.

"And I'm amazed that you believe that." He said, drawing a line across the chalkboard. "This is a timeline of all human existence. Starting here," He pointed at the start of the timeline, "is everyone who ever lived, laughed, loved, and understood the value of life. The cellphone era, which begins right around here," He drew a line almost at the end of the timeline, "Pretty much destroys all of that. Way to go, you."

Lucas raised his hand. "Sir, if I may take a different position?" He asked.

"Yeah, save me, Mr. Friar. Do I go too far?" Is snickered,

"Always, sir. I understand your point, but I use my phone to video chat my old friends and to find out what's going on in Texas."

Maya and I smiled. "Yeah." I started.

"How else can he keep tabs on all the hoedowns?"

"And cattle pageants? Oh, wait, and barbecues!?" I added, remembering them, as we said them in country accents.

Riley frowned. "Maya! Kenzie!" She scolded.

"It's okay, Riley. I'm unaffected by Kenzie and Maya's views of country life." I swear he winked at me... He does know that I lived there too. I mean so do the others, but we never told them that we knew each other. "As my Uncle Buster always says, 'Be like an eagle and soar above the mockingbirds.'"

Riley turned too us. "You're the mockingbirds."

Maya and I grumbled. "We know."

Maya turned to Lucas. "It kills us that we can't get to you."

Lucas just gave her that annoying smirk of his tipped an imaginary hat, and says, "Sorry, ma'am."

We shuddered in annoyance and turned away.

Farkle raised his hand and said to Cory. "Farkle time, sir?"

Cory grinned. "Oh, I love Farkle time."

Farkle turned to me. "Kenz, will you do the honors?"

I walked to the front of the class, as Matthews walked to Farkle's desk. "And now! Your favorite part of the class!" Cory glared at me. "You know its true. Ittttsssss FARKLE TIME!" I said in a game show host accent, flipping the sign on the desk, before walking back to my seat.

"With all due respect to history, Mr. Matthews, what's important to our generation will be on this side of the timeline, when Farkle and technology rule." He turned to Riley, "And I will easily be able to make another one of you." He pulled a strand of hair out of Riley's head.

"Ow."

Then he turned to Maya. "And another one of you."

"Ow."

Finally, he turned to me. I narrowed my eyes. "You wouldn't dare." He did dare. "Ow."

Riley looked confused. "Wait, so now there's six of us and one of you?"

Farkle grinned. "That's awesome. The future, you can't escape it, I am Farkle!" I clapped for him, while he switched seats with Mr. Matthews.

"The assignment, you can't escape it, I am teacher!" He just had to. "Okay, so here's what we're going to do, guys. We're going to split into teams and discover whether or not new technology has made us better people. You'll do presentations on your findings. And here's a twist. No computers."

Well, that's a relief, I don't even have a phone... Farkle, on the other hand, didn't take it as well.

"What?!"

Cory just continued. "We're going old school. You're going to do your research at the New York Public Library."

Maya gasped, mocking Farkle. "Where?!"

"And here's another twist because I trust you not at all. Give me your cell phones." Again. Don't have one.

It was Riley's turn to gasp. "No!"

"Yeah. Come on, hand 'em up, hand 'em up." Everyone complained as he went around collecting them. "Thank you, thank you. Okay, so our teams for this assignment. Maya and Kenzie."

All of a sudden, Farkle jumped onto my lap, putting his legs on Maya's desk and said, "What up!"

We glanced at each other, before pushing him off.

"And Riley, you will be with..." Riley and Lucas turned towards each other.

"No!"

Lucas smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"No!"

The bell rings.

"No!" He turned to Lucas. "Why did you have to come here?"

"Sorry I make you uneasy, sir," He said before leaving the class.

Riley just sighed. "Oh, Dad, we don't even have our phones. I mean, what could possibly happen?"

Boy was she wrong...

~<3~

The starting point of discovering who you are, your gifts, your talents, your dreams, is being comfortable with yourself. Spend time alone. Write in a journal. Take long walks in the woods. - Robin S. Sharma

(Sep 15, 2014) My problem with that quote was that I didn't know what my talents were. Until that night at the library, I didn't even know what I did was a talent... But, apparently, it was.

~~~~~

We walked out of class, and I turned to Lucas. "Hey, soaring eagle, you walkin' with us to the library tonight?"

"Sure, if that's good with you guys."

Maya smiled. "Well, seeing as how you're Riley's partner on this assignment, I guess we should find out if it's okay with her." She turned to Riley. "Riley?" Riley just stood still.

"Riley, any thoughts on this that might come out of your mouth in word form?" I joked.

She kept standing there.

"No, because you don't have your phone anymore..." Maya sighed.

"So, what are you going to do to communicate, I wonder?" I continued. Lucas was watching us, trying not to laugh.

Riley puts two thumbs up. "Oh, look at that." Maya laughed dryly. "Two thumbs up from Riley."

Riley smiled. "And a smiley face," I said sarcastically.

This is gonna be a long day.

~<3~

I was standing outside the Mathews' apartment door. We lived in the same complex, so I didn't have to buzz in. Now it was dinner time, so you might be wondering what I was doing there. My dad left me a note that said he was doing a night shift, and I didn't feel like eating dinner alone.

So naturally, I'm crashing Riley's house.

I knocked on the door. Mr. M opened it "Hey Makenzie, your early."

"Yeah, my dad's working a late shift... Do you have extra food? I don't feel like eating alone."

"Come on in Kenzie," Topanga said, waving me over. I walked over to where the family was eating dinner.

"So how was everyone's day?" Matthews asked.

Auggie smiled. "It was a good day. And then my friends treated me nicely. And then my teacher measured us and then I'm growing. And then Jenny Lewis loves me. I think because I'm growing." I smiled. I hope Auggie never grows up.

Riley frowned, imitating Auggie. "It wasn't a good day. And then my friend pulled my hair out. And then my teacher took my phone away. And then my teacher was also my father."

Auggie and I smiled. "At least you're growing." We said in unison as I patted her shoulder sympathetically.

Topanga sadly smiled, "Honey, please don't come apart. Look at this as a beautiful opportunity to spend time with your family."

I turned to Mr. and Mrs. Matthews. "Here comes funny."

Auggie turned to Riley. "Hello, Riley."

"How you doing?"

"Want to hear about my day? It was a good day-"

"Mom!" Riley interrupted. I patted Riley on the back, and she rested her head on my shoulder. "Help me Kenzie."

Topanga frowned. "Forgive her, Auggie. She misses her telephone."

Auggie smiled. "Well, then she can have mine." He handed her his toy phone.

Riley sighed. I pressed a button on it, and it said. "The cow goes..."

"Moo!" Auggie yelled.

Riley leaned on me more. "I'm not gonna make it."

"That's what your father thinks." She said.

Matthews nodded. "She can't."

Topanga sighed. "Honey, please don't make your father right. It's no good for any of us when your father is right."

"She's right." He agreed, and I snickered.

Riley turned to him. "Why are you really doing this?"

"Because I want you and your friends to become human beings. And I believe that by doing this, you guys can learn to become real human beings."

The intercom buzzed. "Hey, losers, it's Maya."

Cory pointed to me, then pointed to the intercom. "Except these two."

I gasped dramatically. "I'm hurt Matthews, I just ate a nice peaceful dinner with you and your family." He raised his eyebrows. "Ok, you're probably right."

Riley smiled. "You know what? I am going to do this. I can get through this whole thing without making a text or a call." She walked over to the intercom and pressed the button. "Come on up."

Topanga smiled, "Of course you can, sweetheart. And you know what? You're already a wonderful human being, but every so often, little tests like this are gonna come up."

"Why?"

"Because it's your father's job to give you little tests. And maybe along the way, you guys are going to learn a little bit more about yourselves."

Maya walked through the door, and I went to go stand by her. She smiled. "Yeah, like I've learned that I'm actually really okay with all of this."

I nodded. "So am I."

Topanga stared at us. "You don't miss your phone, girls?"

Maya shrugged. "We were the only ones in class without smartphones anyway."

"Now I kind of feel like everybody's even." I finished.

"You guys do that a lot," Auggie said, and we nodded and high-fived.

The intercom buzzes. "Farkle."

"Be ready in a minute," Riley yelled.

It buzzed again. "And Lucas."

Riley smiled and ran to the door. "Ready now!" She yelled, pulling us out the door.

I shook my head. Poor, sweet, innocent Riley.